Author and host of the hit OUTDOOR CHANNEL show SHOOTING GALLERY spouts off...

Friday, August 21, 2009

Silencing Is Not A Crime!

Great new ad campaign from Advanced Armament Corp. As the first (and I think only) Public Gun Guy to go on-record that suppressors should not only be removed from the 1934 Firearms Act as a controlled product, but that police departments who issue non-suppressed AR carbines to their troop are negligent, I agree.

As we mentioned on the SHOOTING GALLERY episode on AAC's suppressor match, "silencers" were added to the 1934 Act at the last minute to "fight poaching." Suppressors stayed on the list because of endless Hollywood frenzy about "assassins' weapons." The idea of federally controlling an object that at its low end has the technological sophistication of a quart pop bottle or a car muffler is on its face ludicrous.

Secondly, suppressors are the solution for increasingly urbanized areas, where the opposition to recreational shooting is more based on noise than anything else. Suppressors also reduce recoil and flash, impediments to becoming a better shooter. Recently one of the federal law enforcement training centers, faced with OSHA-mandated demands to either cut the number of students, double the number of instructors or a third option took the third "making guns quieter."

A former LEO friend of mine recently told me about his "house AR," a short-barreled carbine fitted with an Aimpoint Micro, a SureFire suppressor, a "big honkin' flashlight" and sighted in at 35 feet. Heck of a good idea! If I was to do this (and I'm definitely thinking about it!), I might go with either the Crimson Trace laser/white light vertical foregrip or the Insight long-gun MX6 laser/white light.

7 comments:

I think that there are many of us out here who would like to get a suppressor for a .22 or maybe an AR15 for home defense as you mention. We just don't know how to go about getting it done. Maybe you could make it a show topic?

well, the way to get around the $1,000 price tag would be to make it legal for citizen Joe Sixpack to make his own silencer/suppressor. And/or make it easier for say your local gunsmith to make them without all the legal hoops and taxes to pay. Of course, the upside ..err.... downside for likes of Advance Armament and other suppressor manufacturers is that means more competition. Competition is almost always good for the consumer. We could end up getting better products at lower prices.

The paradigm about suppressors in some european countries or New Zealand is way totally different. In some places, it is actually illegal to hunt withOUT a "muffler" on your firearm.

When Heller is applied to the states, our next target should be NFA '34....esp. the supressor and SBR/SBS clauses. Recent military history shows the widespread use of these items, and these are useful tools for civilians. I've always thought the best HD weapon would be a semi-auto HK MP-5 with supressor and mounted light.